Madge and Gale what happened before the strawberries
by Hunger Games Fics
Summary: Its a few weeks before the reaping of the 74th hunger games and Gale has the eye for Madge and a romance quickly blossms but things take a turn for the awkward when gale finds out Madge has a little secret. Thanks to my beta for correcting my awful spelling and grammar Please review
1. Chapter 1

Its warm out, Its 6 o'clock and the sun is already up. I pull my shirt sleepily over my head, it's the same grey shirt I always wear. It's slightly worn on the shoulder and with a few blood stains that I acquired from my days of hunting in the woods that just don't seem to come out.

I pull on my trousers and put on my socks and shoes, which are covered it dirt, grab my game bag and sneak out the house to the hole in the fence just behind Rooba the butchers. As usual the fence isn't charged so I slip under it and make my way into the woods following the path of snares I set the day before and re-setting them carefully. Its not a bad haul today four large rabbits and two squirrels.

"Hey Gale." The words make me jump although I know who it is before I even turn around. "Did I make you jump?" I brush my hair out of my eyes. Urh, I really need my hair cut. It's really beginning to irritate me.

"Hey Catnip." I say quietly as she walks up to me, she looks happy, but then again she always is when she's in the woods. I look down at her full game bag. "You look like you've had a good haul today."

"So do you." She says trying to get a better look at the game in my open bag. "What have your snares produced for you today Mr Hawthorne?" she asks looking quizzically at it.

"Just a few rabbits and a few squirrels, What about you, Miss Everdeen? What have you shot today?" A huge grin crosses her face

" Just two wild turkeys." I think I must of pulled a funny face because she begins to laugh at me as if I've said something funny. "Don't believe me? Have a look for yourself."

Sure enough there are two wild turkeys shoved into her bag

"I'm surprised they actually fit in there" I told her.

"Me too" she says.

We sit and clean our kills as we usually do, shove them back in our game bags and head back to the hole in the fence to trade some of our game to Rooba. She sees us before we even get to her shop and comes out to greet us.

"What have you got for me today then you two" she says in her usual friendly voice.

"A wild turkey and a rabbit." I say back, mimicking her tone as we trade the game. Rooba always gives us a fair price for our game. We say our goodbyes and we head down to the Hob.

I like to keep conversations short and sweet when I trade with people, usually because I'm running out of time. I have to be at school for half eight and I never seem to get out of the woods until that time anyway, so I usually just give the game to Katniss to go trade and then drop off what we want to keep to our houses seeing as her school days don't start until nine.

I never did understand why the older you are, the earlier you start school. I wonder if it's like that all around Panem or if its just a District 12 thing, but today I have the time to go with Katniss to the Hob and still make it to school on time. I like going to the Hob. It reminds me of when my father used to take me when I was younger. It's appearance has changed very little over the years. It's still covered in coal dust, but every now and again a few new stalls pop up as people get more and more desperate to make money to feed there families.

So many children drop dead of starvation in District 12. Once we arrive in the Hob me and Katniss part ways. I give her the game to give to Greasy Sae and she gives me the game she wants me to drop off for her family.

"See you later Catnip." I say before I leave to head home so I can drop off a rabbit to my mother. I wonder round the Hob for a few more minutes saying hello to a few of the people that I know well from my many years of visiting the place and then I head home, walking quickly as to make sure I'm not late again.

The school is really getting strict with me for my repeated lateness, so now they have punishments for me. If I'm late to school once in the week I have to stay behind for an hour. If I'm late twice it's two hours. Three times it's two hours AND I have to help clean the entire school. Four times and it's two hours and I'm on kitchen duty the next day and if I manage to be late five times a week, I have to stay behind for two hours and do kitchen duty all week and the next week .

I don't know why they've put this in place now when it's my last year, but I really can't afford to stay behind after school when I have to help my mum look after Rory, Vick and Posy. When I finally get home I hand the game to my mother, give her a quick kiss on the cheek and quickly get changed out of my hunting clothes and put on my school clothes. They're the only clothes I own that that aren't blood stained, and then I walk across the Seam to Katniss' house where Prim is outside milking her goat Lady.

I smile to myself remembering how Katniss actually managed to get that goat . How she knew it would help feed her family even though the goat was practically dying at the time. She still took a gamble on it and it paid off in the end.

"Hey prim, could you give this to your mum for me?" Prim looks up at me from where she's perched on a stool next to Lady.

She really does look out of place in the Seam with her blonde hair and blue eyes. You can tell her mother was from the town. Prim looks like her mum whereas Katniss looks like her dad and fits right into the Seam. Practically everyone from the Seam resembles each other with the same olive skin, dark hair and grey eyes, but there are the odd few like Prim and her mum who look completely different.

"Sure Gale." She says as she takes the wild turkey from me and heads inside.

"Make sure you're not late for school today" I call after her. Prim blushes like she always does when she's embarrassed.

"I'll try." she giggles and disappears inside to give her mum the turkey.

As I approach the rusty school gates I see Madge Undersee standing there and I know automatically that I'm late. Shit not again. It's the second time this week and quite frankly, I'm not in the mood to stay behind today. As I walk past Madge I give her a friendly smile, she smiles back and then quickly looks down at her feet making circles in the ground with her shoe, her hands held together behind her back.

I don't know what it is about the Mayors daughter but she intrigues me. Perhaps it's the fact that she's so innocent and shy, or that I don't really know much about her other than the fact that her family is the most powerful family in the District, but I've never had the chance to speak to her seeing as our lunch break's are at different times, and she goes straight home after school.

I've never really seen her with people in school, well other than Katniss. I think she just likes to keep herself to herself. She's actually rather pretty. Probably one of the prettiest girls in the school. This could be a contributing factor as to why I'm intrigued by her. Maybe I should actually talk to her. I make a mental note to actually talk to Madge next time I see her, but right now. I should probably get to my lesson.

As I walk into the classroom, I notice that my teacher doesn't look too happy. I sit down in my usual seat and try to focus on what she's saying but its difficult as it's so boring. Why do we have to listen to this every day? Yes I'm aware this is a coal mining District. Yes I know that next year I will be working down in the mines. No I don't care how coal came to be, nor do I care about how many years it takes to form.

And then when she's finished speaking, she decides to make us write an essay on the usefulness of coal. What the hell? It's the exact same thing every day. Why can't we learn about other things like the other Districts? It would defiantly be more interesting than listening to a teacher talk about coal all day. I've come to the conclusion that District 12 is the most boring place in all of Panem. I end up completely zoning out and I begin doodling new ideas for snares which is considerably more interesting than writing that essay.

At the end of the lesson when we are asked to hand in our papers I look around to see that everyone besides me has something to hand in. When everyone else had left, the teacher moves over to my desk. There's no doubt in my mind what she's come to talk to me about.

"Gale, would you care to share with me why you haven't written your essay?"

"I didn't feel like it." I say, without taking my eyes off the sheet of paper with my drawings on it.

"You can't keep doing this Gale. The work needs to be done." Her tone is sympathetic but it irritated me to no end.

"I know, next time." I mumble.

"You said that the last two times. Next time I expect the work to be done."

"Okay." is all I say.

I walk out the room to my next lesson; History of the Coal Miner. No. Just no. This is one of my least favourite lessons. I don't even care for coal. It's so pointless! I don't even understand why its actually a lesson seeing as there's only so much you can learn about the History of Coal Miners… and that's not a lot. But I go to the lesson anyway and daydream until we get to leave for lunch.

Finally lunch. Finally something I care about. I join the line for food and just as I've been served Callsia, a girl from my year, calls me over to sit with her. I accept her offer and sit opposite her. She's quite pretty and definitely from the Seam. Her curly hair is dark brown and falls just onto her shoulders. And her grey/blue are highlighted by her long, dark eyelashes. A few others have joined us by now but I don't turn my gaze away from her. She's smiling as me the way she always does.

"Hello Gale." she says in her calm, soothing voice.

"Hey Callis." Her smile broadens. Callis is the nick name I gave her a while ago when we had hooked up a few times but I haven't really spoken to her since. "How have you been?"

"I've been okay, what about you?" God, I can really see why I liked her even her voice is seductive.

"I've been okay too." I can't help but smile around her. She brings back some good memories.

I notice that Tobiah, a tall, stocky boy with curly, blonde hair from the town who when you first set eyes on him, appears quite chubby but upon looking closer you realise it's all muscle and Dayton, a small and very scrawny boy from the Seam who is possibly one of the funniest people I have ever met have joined us on the table, along with Evelina a short blonde haired girl who is incredibly skinny but still has a nice pair and Amaris who is taller with longer blonde hair which ends half way down her back both of which I have hooked up with at some point in the past year.

There's some general chit chat at the table but I don't make an effort to get involved in it. I nod and agree occasionally but that's the most I contribute to the conversation. I glance up at the large window in the dining hall that overlooks the small playing field and see that there is a P.E lesson going on outside. On closer inspection I see that the class contains Katniss and Madge. Katniss says they're not really friends but they seem to spend all there time together in school. Well at least when I see them they're always together, but never talking. It's strange.

They're playing volley ball. My eyes are transfixed on Madge. The way she goes on tiptoe and stretches to reach the ball and when she bends down to pick it up. Damn. I spend the remainder of lunch staring out the window at Madge because quite frankly I couldn't care less for the conversations going on right now.

"hello, Earth to gale"

"huh?" I snap back into reality as I'm pulled back into the conversation

"are you coming to the meadow tonight, Ripper sold me some alcohol and we were going to go to the meadow tonight and drink it." 'Meadow parties' are the norm in district 12. Whenever someone can get Ripper to sell to them which is quite often apparently seen as there's one almost every weekend I don't always drink because I have to get up in the morning to go hunting , besides rippers stuff is strong half a bottle is more than enough to get two people drunk.

"sure, why not"

"Great" I swear Callisia has one of the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen. I glance at the window and notice that the P.E class is coming in now and that must mean my lunch is over and now I have to sit through an hour of capitol propaganda. Great. I hate the capitol with a passion. I can't even put into words how much I hate it, Katniss thinks I'm crazy when I rant about it to her in the woods, I think she's too young to understand what the capitol does besides kill innocent children for entertainment. I suppose it doesn't help that the propaganda brainwashes the people in the district to think that the capitol is some sort of saviour and that we should be grateful that there here for us when in reality they leave the districts… well at least district 12 in poverty and stand by and do nothing wile innocent children drop dead of starvation every day. I stand up and go to put my tray on the pile when Callsia comes up behind me and chucks her tray on the pile and leaves the lunch hall. For a district 12 girl she's got a really nice figure, Most of the girls in district 12 are stick thin but not her, she looks healthy which doesn't surprise me as her family are probably one of the few families in the seam that have actually managed to grow food in there small garden and seen as its just her and her mother at home they have more to eat than they would if she had siblings.

As I leave the lunch hall and head towards my next lesson I see Madge standing in the corridor waiting to go into the lunch hall, Katniss isn't with her. I have to walk past her to get to my lesson anyway so I might as well say hi.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

"Hello Madge." I say causally, as I walk in her direction. I can see her blushing.

"Hi." She says back in her usual shy tone. I would stay and talk to her but the bell rings and I have to go. I get to my lesson just in time, sit down in my usual seat and just drown out everything that the teacher tells us about the Capitol and all its done for the districts. I really can't stand this shit.

I do nothing for the whole hour. How productive. I'm just aching to get back in the woods. I really can't stand it inside the fence, I feel like an animal cadged in.

And then I remember I was late twice this week which means I have two hours behind school so when the bell rings to signalize the end of the day for my year, I stay seated and brace myself for the lecture I'm about to receive of my teacher.

But instead she just hands me a piece of paper and tells me that I must write down the reason I was late. She knows why I was late. Everyone knows why I was late, but I can't write it down because leaving the district is strictly forbidden and punishable by death, so this is where I usually make up some bizarre story as to why I was late.

Once I said that I had got bitten by Prims goat and had to seek medical help. Another time I said Posy was ill and I had to get her to Mrs Everdeen. But today I don't feel like writing anything too wordy, so I just write _'I slept in longer than I should have' _and call it a day.

After about an hour I'm told I can go home because its Friday and not even the teachers want to stay behind school today, so I get up and that's when the bell rings to tell the years bellow that its time to go.

By the time I get outside I see Katniss but she's quite far ahead and almost at her house, then I see Madge, walking slower just in front so I decide to walk with her.

"Hey." I say as I walk next to her, slowing to her pace.

"Oh, hello." Her tone of voice is surprised. "Thought you would have left by now?"

"Detention."

"Ohh." She giggles "I don't get detentions."

"I know, because you're always early." This is when she looks at me, and for the first time I actually notice how blue her eyes are. They're blue like the summer sky, not icy blue like most towns people. There warm and really beautiful.

"Are you heading home?" It's a stupid question. Of course she is, where else would she go?

"Yeah, why?" She looks at me quizzically.

"I was wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out, I could show you where I get the strawberries from?"

"Sure." I honestly didn't expect her to say yes seeing as we've never really spoken before.

"Come on, it's this way."

She smiles at me and we walk to the gap that's hidden from the view of the town, and after pausing to check the fence is not on, I climb under the fence. Madge does the same, I can't help but stare at the cleavage she has just unknowingly displayed to me as she climbs under.

Once were on the other side of the fence, we quickly disappear into the woods out of sight of the district, concealed by the trees. We talk idly for a few minutes until we reach the spot where the strawberry bushes grow and we sit down.

"Gale?" she says in a questioning tone. " Why did you ask me to come here?" she says while picking a strawberry from the bush.

"Well we've never really spoken before, and I wanted to get to know you." Lie. I just think she's really attractive. Although I wouldn't mind getting to know her.

"Oh." She pauses. "That's, erm… nice." I don't quite think she believed that. "But why though?" Girls don't usually question why I talk to them.

"Well, I thought if you were friends with Katniss then you must be nice. Seeing as she doesn't like very many people, I suppose I wanted to find out for myself." This answer seems to satisfy her because she stops questioning me about it and changes the subject.

"So you come here every day then, to the woods?" She takes a bite into the strawberry she's been looking at for a while, deciding on whether or not she should eat it.

"Pretty much, unless one of my brothers or my sister is sick. Then I look after them."

"Oh, I didn't know you looked after your family that much."

"What?"

"I just thought you got the food. I didn't realise you looked after your brothers and sister as well." She sounds genuinely shocked.

"Well since my dad died I suppose I became a father figure to them. Besides my mum always has to work so she can't always look after them." I wonder why she's asking these questions.

"Posy is just adorable, I saw her playing in the meadow the other day on my way to the bakery."

"Yeah? She loves the meadow. I don't know why though." I bite into a strawberry. "So is this the first time you've been outside the fence?"

"No, I've been out here once before." What? I didn't know Madge had been out here before.

"With Katniss." She adds on. Oh right that makes sense now. "She was trying to teach me how to use a bow and arrow, but I'm pretty useless."

"I'm sure your not." I actually don't doubt that she is useless with a bow, being the Mayors daughter, she doesn't really get much chance to go outside the fence to practice, so I can imagine her being incompetent with one. "It just takes a little practice."

"I don't really want to learn how to use a bow and arrow though, I don't suppose I would ever need to use it." Her voice is quiet.

"No. I don't suppose you would." She's the Mayors daughter. Of course she wouldn't need to learn how to use it. But I'm not going to say that to her, I want to get to know her and that's no way to make friends. We sit next to the strawberry bush for a while making idle chit chat and eating strawberries.

"These are really nice with cream you know." Madge says after a moment of silence.

"I wouldn't know. I can't really afford cream." This rubs me the wrong way. The fact that her farther is the mayor gives Madge a pretty sheltered life.

She may as well live in the Capitol. The things that her family can afford! Cream? Who has the money for that? We barely get by as it is! My family, without my hunting, would of probably dropped dead of starvation long ago, and there's her family, eating strawberries and fucking cream!

That stuff is an expensive luxury only two families in this District can afford. Hers and Haymitch Abernathy, the guy who won the Hunger Games years ago, although he only spends his money on alcohol. I bet the guy single handily keeps Ripper in business.

"No, neither can we really. Only had it once on my birthday." Huh?

"What? I thought you were loaded?"

"What? NO!" She's laughing. Why? "Just because my dad's the Mayor doesn't mean we're rich! Yeah, okay we have more money than most and we live in a big house, but we don't get special treatment from the Capitol!" Her tone is defensive, verging on angry. "I'm fed up of people thinking that my family is the Capitol's lap dog!" Okay now she's angry. Her voice is raised, but not to the point of shouting.

"Well you can't blame people for thinking that, surely?" She's staring at me, looking as if she wants to punch me. Not the first time I would have been punched by a girl, but that's not the point.

"Yes I can! Maybe people should get to know me before they judge me and make assumptions about my family!" She gets up onto her feet. "I'm going home.' She says before heading off in the general direction of the fence. Great now I've pissed her off. I had no idea that she was going to get so angry over that. I decide to follow her to try and calm her down.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, Madge wait!" I say coming up behind her.

"What?" Her voice is loud and sharp instead of her usual quiet, calm tone.

"Look, I'm sorry." she turns around to look at me and it's only now I can see just how pissed off she really is.

"No you're not." Her face is turning red in anger and her fists are clenched.

"Yes, I am." I try and make my voice sound sincere because I genuinely am sorry that I've upset her, although I don't understand why she's so mad about it.

"Whatever." She says, dismissing what I have just said. What is her problem? She starts walking away again so I quickly grab her arm and pull her back. She spins around to face me. We're standing closer than I intended but I still don't let go of her hand.

"Madge." I begin. I use my free hand to gently tilt her head upwards from under her chin so she's looking me in the eye. "I really am sorry. I didn't mean anything by it." Our eyes stay locked onto each others. "The last thing I wanted to do was to offend you."

We stand there for a moment, bodies close together, gazing into each others eyes. It looks like the anger has left Madge and she seems to be her usual calm self again.

"Okay" Is all she whispers back in response.

I didn't realise how dark it had gotten. The moon is out and the sky is clear. We're standing in a clearing in the forest a couple of hundred yards from the fence, but we're still concealed from the District when Madge's' face lights up in the moonlight. She looks so beautiful right now. The moonlight shines of her pale skin, it's almost as if she's glowing. I pull Madge in closer, one hand around her waist and the other still on her hand so that our bodies are actually touching now.

"Are we okay now?" I ask her quietly, my hand now tucking a stray bit of hair behind her ear.

"Yes." She gives me a small smile.

"Good." My hand finds its way to the back of Madge's neck and I can see that her gaze has dropped from my eyes to my lips and when she bites her bottom lip I slowly move my head towards hers. She doesn't hesitate to do the same.

Madge wraps her arms around my neck and we stand there, our lips pressed together, holding onto each other tightly. She lowers one of her hands so it's resting on my chest, the other remains around my neck.

There's a howl of what I assume to be a wild dog not to far in the distance and we stop.

"What was that?" There's a look of pure panic on Madge's face.

"A wild dog. Let's get out of here." I take Madge's hand and we make our way to the fence, being as quiet as possible as to not let the creature know our whereabouts. Although it can probably smell us.

I pause to check that the fence is not on and when I'm sure it isn't, I step aside to let Madge through first and then I follow. "Let me walk you back."

"You don't have to." I can't really tell, but I think she's blushing.

"I want to though." This makes her smile and I take her hand in mine.

Her hands feel so small and delicate in mine. The gap in the fence isn't too far away from Madge's house but it's a fair walk from mine which is why I hardly use it. When we get to her door she turns to face me.

"Thank you for tonight Gale." Her gaze meets mine.

"It was my pleasure" I pull her in close to me again and place my hands on her hips. "I would love to do this again some time."

"Me too." I can tell she's blushing now because a light has just come on. "I better go, thanks again Gale." I bend down and kiss her gently on the lips before she disappears inside.

I set of to walk home, it will be a 10 minute journey if I'm quick. I wonder what time it is.

When I get home I see that its 10:00. Not that bad. Me and Madge must have been in the woods at least 6 hours… It only seemed like 3.

"Gale where have you been?" My Mothers voice comes from behind me. "You were supposed to read Posy a bed time story, remember?" She doesn't sound angry or even disappointed, she sounds tired.

"Just in the woods Mum, had to get away for a while." She walks back over to the sink where she's doing the laundry for our neighbour. "Here let me finish that off, you go to bed." I say as I take over the washing. "Get some sleep Mum." She dries her hands on her apron.

"You're a good boy Gale." She says before disappearing to the room she shares with Posy.

I quickly finish doing the laundry and hang it out to dry over the backs of the chairs, chuck the dirty water out the door and head to my room. It's a small room that only really fits my bed and a chest of draws, but it beats sharing with Rory and Vick.

I take my shirt and trousers off and throw them in a heap on the floor. It's too hot to wear anything to bed so I decide to just sleep in boxers tonight. Although I can already tell sleeping will be difficult tonight as my mind is still full of thoughts of Madge and our kiss. I cant get her out of my head.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay so its been a while since I uploaded but both me and my beta were busy, so this is it chapter four. Enjoy:)**

It's Saturday morning and the sun is shining straight onto my face through a gap in my shutters.

"Urgghh" I moan, trying to shield my eye from the blinding sunlight.

I really can't be bothered to do anything today but I know I have to get up and go hunting, so I pull on my clothes and shoes, grab my game bag and leave.

Its about ten o'clock in the morning and the heat from the sun is already getting intense. I can tell that today is going to be scorching hot. I make my way to the gap in the fence behind Rooba's, and slip under.

On my snare trail I check the hollow log that Katniss usually stashes her bow and see that it's gone, this means she's already in the woods and as I stand up an arrow goes whizzing past and lodes itself in the tree next to me.

"Shit Katniss!" I shout as I try and regain my composure.

"You're late Hawthorne." She says, giving me a cheeky smile.

"Sorry Catnip, I slept in" I say, walking over to her. "Let's go check these snares then." And off we go, following the snare trail.

On the way Katniss shoots two large rabbits, and by the time we've finished the snare trail, we have a great hall between us; four rabbits and six squirrels.

I guess these squirrels are getting pretty careless.

"Shall we clean them here or somewhere else?" Katniss asks, retrieving an arrow from the eye of a squirrel.

"Here, I don't fancy walking far today" I say and sit down ready to clean my kills.

"Alright." Is her response and she sits opposite me and starts to skin her squirrels. "I hear there's a party on tonight." As she speaks, her eyes don't leave her kill.

"Yeah, are you going?" I ask her, although I know she won't go, she never does seeing as she has to stay and look after Prim.

"No, are you?" Now she looks at me.

"No." I know that's a lie but there are just some things I wouldn't tell Katniss. She's too young to understand a lot of the things I do, or even why I do them.

We finish cleaning our kills and head back to the fence, making idle chit chat as we walk. "So Catnip, what are we giving to Rooba, what are we trading and what are we keeping?" I ask her before we reach the fence.

"Well my mum needs some bandages because she's running low, so I need a squirrel to trade for them." I watch as she kicks a twig from beneath her leather boot.

I know she hates asking to keep game, I think she feels guilty but seeing as she shot it and we split everything, I don't have a problem with it.

"Okay, anything you particularly want to trade or do you just want to give the rest to Rooba and save the money" I ask her.

"Well we have to give Greasy Sae a rabbit, we did promise her one if we caught any."

That's true; Greasy Sae makes good rabbit and parsnip stew. She grows the parsnips in her little garden, so when they're in season there's usually always parsnip in her stews.

"Okay, so were selling Rooba three rabbits and five squirrels?" I ask in confirmation.

"If that's okay." She smiles. Katniss' smile is really quite pretty, it's a shame she only ever smiles in the woods. I'm probably one of the few people that sees it, besides Prim of course.

"That's fine." I say climbing under the fence. Katniss follows right behind me. We knock at the door and within a few minutes Rooba's smiling face is at the door.

"Good morning!" She says in a cheery voice. I notice the blood stain on her apron looks fresh.

"What's that from" I ask, curiosity getting the better of me.

"Old man sold one of his goats to me, said it doesn't make enough milk so might as well make her a meal. Just finished cleaning the thing." She wipes her hands on her dirty blood stained apron. "So, what have you got for me today" she asks.

"Three rabbits and four squirrels" Katniss replies unusually quickly.

I look at her and I can tell she's anxious.

"Oh great, let me just get my money," and off she goes back into the house. I know Rooba's prices are fair and we have had a good hall today, so I'm expecting more money than usual.

Sure enough, she comes out with a handful of coins. "There you go." she says as we trade the game for the coins "Have a nice day you two." And with that, she disappears into her shop and closes the door.

We split the money evenly and head to the Hob.

"Are you alright?" I ask Katniss as we walk.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She says without looking at me.

"No you're not, what's wrong?" I persist but she still doesn't look at me. This aggravates me.

"Nothing's wrong Gale, I just-" she pauses "-need to get these bandages." I don't feel like prying anymore as she clearly doesn't want to tell me.

"Okay." I say "Let's be quick then."

Some of the tension appears to have left Katniss, although quite obviously there is something bothering her. As we enter the Hob, I suggest we split up. "Why don't you go get the bandages, and I'll give the rabbit to Greasy Sae?"

"Okay." Katniss says. I hand her the squirrel and she heads off to where the bandages are being sold. She could get them in town but she prefers to help out the people in the Hob.

"Hello Sae. Katniss and I have a rabbit for you." I say, handing her the rabbit.

"Oh, why thank you Gale!" The look of joy on her face, two rabbits in two days. "If you want to wait a wile I can cook some up for you now?" She asks, already placing the rabbit on a spit above a fire to cook.

"That sounds great, I'll be back in a minute though, there's something I need first." I say and Sae nods.

I head off in the direction of Ripper's stall.

"Hello Ripper." I say as I approach the stall.

"Hello Gale, what can I do for you today?" She asks, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.

"My Mother asked me to pick up two bottles from you. She's trying to get a stain out of Posy's dress, and she heard that liquor can get the stain out."

Not all entirely a lie, it's true my mum wants the liquor to get a stain out of Posy's dress, but she only wanted one bottle. The other is for the party tonight, although I'm not even sure I want to go.

"Hmm, okay." She says, not fully convinced by my story. "Why does she need two and not just one?" She questions, staring at me with her deep grey eyes.

"One for this stain, the other in case it happens again and we can't afford it next time. She said buy it now just in case"

"Oh, okay." She names her price and I hand over the coins.

"Thanks." I say, before heading back to Greasy Sae's, shoving the bottles in my bag. Looks like she's finished cooking because she's handing a bowl of hot stew to a more relaxed looking Katniss. "Smells good." I say, and accept the steaming hot bowl Sae hands me.

By now, a small line has started to form of hungry people wanting to eat some fresh meat, as its not very often Sae actually puts meat in her stew. It's usually tree bark and parsnip or some other absurd concoction, but still people will eat it.

It's surprising what people will eat when they're hungry enough, but every now and then, Katniss and I give Sae some game in exchange for a bowl of whatever she's cooking.

Although we usually buy a bowl whenever we're in the Hob and can afford it, like when we have had a good hall and have money to spare, but if we have a bad hall then we just go without.

"You got your bandages then?" I ask Katniss.

"Yeah." She gives me a half hearted smile, and then continues eating the stew. I notice she's eating it pretty quickly as if she's in a rush. "I've got to go now Gale" she says, as soon as she's finished. "Thanks for the food Sae, bye." and with that she picks up her bag and walks out of the Hob.

"Where's she going in such a hurry?" Sae says with a look that's somewhere between concern and amusement, whilst she hands out a bowl of stew to someone.

"I have no idea" I say, taking a seat on an upside down crate next to the stall. "Must have been important though."

"Where's little Katniss today?" I look up and straight away and I can see messy red hair.

It's Drius. He's one of the Peacekeepers in District 12 probably, the youngest as well.

"She just left." I growl at him. I hate that he talks to Katniss, it really bothers me.

"Oh, alright" He's laughing at me as he walks away which makes me mad. He thinks he's so above everyone because he wears that stupid uniform! I can't stand Peacekeepers at all, and he's not even the worst one!

Old Cray, Urgh, the thought of him makes my blood boil. Paying starving women to sleep with him. The sick bastard.

What if Katniss had been older when her dad died? Would she have ended up at his doorstep?

"Hello? Gale?" I look up to see an impatient Greasy Sae looking at me. "I'm going to need that bowl back, I'm quite busy today."

I look down at my empty bowl and then to the ever growing line of people.

"Sorry Sae, here." And I hand her the bowl back. "Thanks for the food." I say, and she gives me a polite nod.

I sling my bag over my shoulder, brush my hair back and exit the Hob. Might as well go back home and hide the liquor now, otherwise I'll be carrying it round for hours.

I trudge home slowly, trying to stick to the shadows. The sun is unbearably hot, I didn't notice it in the woods due to the shade the trees provided, but it was hot and stuffy in the Hob.

I suppose it didn't help that I just had a hot bowl of food either, but oh well. The streets are practically empty; all the people that don't have to be out are inside, probably sheltering from the heat.

When I finally arrive home, I go straight to my room and hide the bottle under my bed. Then I find my Mum and hand her the other bottle.

"Thank you Gale." She says as she opens it, and pours a little over the stain in Posy's dress.

"Well, I'll be in my room." I say, and before she has chance to ask me to do anything else, I disappear into my room and close the door.

I would usually help her but it's just too hot today and she isn't even doing much, so I decide to take a nap. I'm going to need it if I go out tonight.

**Like it? Hate it? what do you think? Please review :)**


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